Listen now (25 min) | Hipkins rules out wealth tax for his time as PM after ditching plans in Budget for a revenue-neutral wealth tax on the top 0.5% to pay for a $20/week tax cut for bottom 99.5% because...just because.

Absolutely great read from Bernard Hickey on Hipkins’ wealth tax announcement and the treasury report released yesterday:

That’s it. It will now be almost impossible for a wealth or capital gains tax to be implemented within the next decade or two.

The future of Aotearoa’s political economy will now remain frozen in its stagnant, unequal, unjust, unproductive and unhealthy state for the forseeable future. That’s what our leaders, and ultimately the only voters that matter, have decided. Those hoping to change that frozen landscape should now look after themselves and their families, and/or hope and work for an electoral miracle that gives parties who want such taxes dominant positions in any post-election negotiation.